Newbie - Saltwater or Reef tank

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67chevellemalibu2

New member
What are the differences between a saltwater and a reef tank? If I go the saltwater route with fake rocks and coral, will a regular glass or acrylic tank work ? Do you need overflows & it drilled for plumbing ?
 
Simple answer is that a reef tank has live coral, a saltwater fish tank or a FOWLR (fish only with live rock) does not. You can run a tank however you want. I've run a reef with canister filters, or hang on filters. Just depends on what you have to work with. If it were me starting from scratch, I'd go with a drilled (aka reef-ready) tank whether doing reef or fish only. Gives you the ability to change from one to the other if you decide to later.
 
a reef tank has saltwater in it. there are freshwater and saltwater tanks. with saltwater, you can do either reef-with real corals and fish, fish only-with fake corals, or FOWLR- fish with Live Rock. simple explanation.

Glass or acrylic is personal preference. Don't need to drill it, but better if you do.

start slow and research. expensive hobby if you let it.
 
Welcome to the site, and hopefully to the hobby!

Saltwater tanks include reefs tanks, as in a reef tank is a type of saltwater tank. Reef tanks generally refer to keeping coral in addition (or instead of) fish. The other main category of tank would be a fish-only tank, normally done nowadays with live rock as a means of hosting your bacterial colonies (your bio-filter). Both glass and acrylic tanks work, each with their own nuances, but either one works just fine. Drilled tanks are useful if you want to include a sump, and most people prefer having sumps. They keep your display free of ugly equipment like heaters, give you more room to work, and increase the overall water volume which helps in keeping things stable. That said, you can also simply run hang-on-the-back (HOB) style equipment instead. Personally I would always prefer a sump, but everything depends on your space and financial restrictions.

Ask lots of questions, read everything you can find about it, and :welcome:
 
67chevellemalibu2 said:
What are the differences between a saltwater and a reef tank? If I go the saltwater route with fake rocks and coral, will a regular glass or acrylic tank work ? Do you need overflows & it drilled for plumbing ?
Click to expand...

I think u mean whats the difference between FOWLR (fish only with live rock) and a reef tank cause both are saltwater tanks lol

Fowlr is exactly what it sounds like. A fish only tank. Upsides to this are that u can get awesome beautiful fish that u cant have a reef. Downside is no pretty corals. A fowlr is easier maintenance and doesn't require near perfect water like a reef tank does.

A reef tank is a tank with fish and corals. Depending on what corals u want (lps, sps, softies etc) will depend on how advanced ur tank needs to be. If ur looking into sps ur going to need near perfect water and stabilization. A skimmer, and some sort of nutrient export is going to be needed. I personally prefer a reactor w/ gfo, a fuge and a skimmer.

Reef tank pretty much requires RODI water. A FOWLR you can get away with regular water but RODI is recommended.

Any tank will work but go with the biggest tank you can afford to set-up. A good number for setting up a reef tank is $30 per gallon of water.

It doesn't need to be drilled. U can get all in one tanks if u like but having a external sump makes life so much easier. If u are serioius about setting up a reef tank deffinatly get a drilled tank.

Any other questions just ask!
 
I knew this was gonna be another expensive hobby. You only live life once. Thanks for all of the advice. I am going to go with a FOWLR set up w/ a sump & LED lighting. Anybody willing to tell me exactly.what equipment. I will need to get & brands? Anyone in the Northwest Indiana area.willing to help me set upfor free or a fee. Would greatly appreciate any help I can get. Thanks for the advice.
 
67chevellemalibu2 said:
I knew this was gonna be another expensive hobby. You only live life once. Thanks for all of the advice. I am going to go with a FOWLR set up w/ a sump & LED lighting. Anybody willing to tell me exactly.what equipment. I will need to get & brands? Anyone in the Northwest Indiana area.willing to help me set upfor free or a fee. Would greatly appreciate any help I can get. Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

If u are going to go just FOWLR u can choose to not run a sump. It's not required but it is nice to have. U can pretty much run a FOWLR tank off a HOB or canister filter. It's pretty much like running a FW system.
 
Also, If you're going FOWLR, I'd skip the LED's and go with compact florescent. I'm sure you can get them for nearly free, while LEDs are expensive. You don't need all that light for a FOWLR. You probably don't even want all of that light as it will make algae grow if you've got a heavy bioload (which is part of the fun with a FOWLR).

67chevellemalibu2 said:
I knew this was gonna be another expensive hobby. You only live life once. Thanks for all of the advice. I am going to go with a FOWLR set up w/ a sump & LED lighting. Anybody willing to tell me exactly.what equipment. I will need to get & brands? Anyone in the Northwest Indiana area.willing to help me set upfor free or a fee. Would greatly appreciate any help I can get. Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
 
If it were me setting up a FOWLR, I'd set it up like a reef, just in case i wanted to switch. So I'd use a drilled tank and a sump, and I'd get some nice dimmable LEDs. Just turn the lights down. That way if you get bored and want to try a reef, all you do is re-home the non reef safe fish and you're good to go! Just don't use copper or anything like that in the tank I'd you even have an inkling you might go reef. Good luck!
 
capysolo said:
If it were me setting up a FOWLR, I'd set it up like a reef, just in case i wanted to switch. So I'd use a drilled tank and a sump, and I'd get some nice dimmable LEDs. Just turn the lights down. That way if you get bored and want to try a reef, all you do is re-home the non reef safe fish and you're good to go! Just don't use copper or anything like that in the tank I'd you even have an inkling you might go reef. Good luck!
Click to expand...

agreed
 
Do you need overflows on a FOWLR tank? What are those small plumbed tanks I see set up under some peoples stands? Is that a set up for a reef tank?

Equipment I need?
1. Tank - glass or acrylic
2. Stand
3.Sump
4.Lights- LED or not?
5. Sand
6. Salt mix
What else do I need?
 
1. Personal preference, i dislike acrylic because its so easy to scratch

2. when i had a garage i would DIY a stand, easy to get one made for the tank though

3. I started all hang on back, but regretted it, I would go for a sump, having a sump or tank underneath requires the overflow. its not needed, but makes it easy to keep the display clean because you can stash all the equipment in the sump.

4. LED's are nice, but for fish only there are no requirements, so light is only for viewing. LED's are the most energy efficients and coolest (temperature) option. Some people rely on their lights for heat.

5. Sand is personal preference, may be required for some types of fishes (sand shoveler and wrasses)

6. salt mix can be just plain old instant ocean for fish only.

you also need live rock, or dry rock and a bacterial starter culture, while the starter culture is not nessecery it speeds the cycle significantl, If you have a sump you need a return pump, you will need some power heads for flow in the main tank. You may want to have a protein skimmer for nutrient management if you plan of having a heavily stocked tank. Heater/chiller depending on your conditions.
 
67chevellemalibu2 said:
Do you need overflows on a FOWLR tank? What are those small plumbed tanks I see set up under some peoples stands? Is that a set up for a reef tank?

Equipment I need?
1. Tank - glass or acrylic
2. Stand
3.Sump
4.Lights- LED or not?
5. Sand
6. Salt mix
What else do I need?
Click to expand...

That plumbed tank is a sump, and they are technically optional - but come almost universally highly recommended (well, not for all nano tanks, but larger tanks most would use it). If you have a sump you get to put all that ugly equipment (like heaters, skimmers, and so on) down out of sight, and you're going to want a nice looking tank, so why clutter it if you have the option?

Equipment you need:
1. Tank
2. Plumbing (if using a sump)
3. Sump (optional) (add a return pump if using a sump)
4. Stand
5. Lights - type depends on what you want, for FOWLR, snag some cheap used T5s (type of light), or something along those lines. No need to spend money here unless you need it - if you want a reef, you can upgrade this later)
6. Saltwater (pre-mixed and bought at your LFS (this is an expensive option, and not recommended) or salt mix and water, for fowlr, you can use tap, but you need a dechlorinator - this is cheap).
7. Powerheads (you need some water movement in the tank)
8. Sand is optional - some go bare-bottom
9. Protein Skimmer (again, technically optional, but most use them, they are not as important for fowlr - what you're going to find out the more you read is that there are many ways of successfully keeping a tank)
10. Heaters
11. Live Rock (or base rock / dry rock and a bacterial starter, like someone else's seeded sponge, bottled bacteria (Dr. Tim's), a scoop of someone else's sand, etc...)
12. A siphon or other means of removing water easily from your tank
13. Many many buckets
14. Lots of towels and rags
15. Tools for cleaning the inside of your tank
16. Testing Kits
17. Thermometer

The list goes on really - you could add a quarantine tank (recommended) which is just a small tank to quarantine new fish, and requires a minimal setup (hob power filter, some pvc, heater), you could add essentially a lot, or even get by without some of the above items. Read, read, read - there are a lot of guides both on this site and elsewhere. It will be overwhelming, and when it is, speak up and ask questions! :) Good luck!
 
A sump is the way to go. Adds water volume to your setup, and allows you to hide unsightly equipment. As for lighting, I prefer LED. They have a nice look, cheaper to run, and don't have to replace bulbs.
 
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